Planning and development

A collaborative, strategic approach for decisions on land use

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Resource Management and Planning (RAMP) project

With growing urban development, the Government of South Australia has recognised the need to update and improve the way the state's planning and mining legislation and regulations interact and for the government agencies involved (the then Department of State Development and the Department of Planning, Transport and Infrastructure) to share information at relevant stages. Such interaction is necessary to maintain ongoing access to long-life valuable extractive resources and to minimise potential land-use conflicts between incompatible uses.

The two state government departments have initiated the Resource Area Management and Planning (RAMP) project. This project is focused on extractive mineral resources in the Greater Adelaide Region and major regional centres where complementary changes to the extractives and planning development systems are needed to address complex and competing interests as urban areas expand.

RAMP report

The RAMP report highlights ways to secure the future of South Australia's long-life extractive and construction material resources and quarry operations. The report provides advice and recommendations on how to improve interactions between the South Australian planning and mining systems, and will form the basis of further discussion and decision making.

Among the recommendations is the need to:

Review and update best practice policy tools and guides for existing and future operations,

Boost awareness of strategic mineral resources at the local government level, and

Identification of strategic mineral resource areas in South Australia

This report addresses a central recommendation of the RAMP report – to achieve interaction between the Development Act and the Mining Act at the strategic level by conducting a strategic planning exercise to consider the need for protection of mineral resources.

Giving recognition to our most strategically important resources will contribute positively to the environment, the broader economy and our communities. The RAMP report and the identification of strategic resource areas (SRAs) in South Australia will help to minimise conflicts from incompatible developments and preserve appropriate separation distances between quarry operations and residential areas, reducing future supply and pricing problems.

A SRA is an area within the Greater Adelaide region or near a major regional centre that is of key economic value to South Australia due to the quantity or quality of construction materials or mineral resources that are extracted or contained within that area. A SRA is also an area currently experiencing urban encroachment or incompatible development interface issues, or is likely to be experiencing such issues in the near future.